coming home
by mentalbint
Summary: willows back in the newly filled in and rebuilt sunnydale. now shes a teacher of computing and she meets some old friends who she lost touch with many years ago. please R&R.
1. first day

She walked into the large building that was full of other unsuspecting teenagers. All of them looked lost and in pain the first day at school was always a trial.  
Willow walked in books in hand on her first day at the new Sunnydale high. Except this time she wasn't here to learn. It had been five years since the whole of Sunnydale had fallen in on itself and Willow had travelled the world since then, honing her magical skills and earning herself a teaching degree. During this time the crater that had been sunnydale had been filled in and the town rebuilt.  
Now Willow was back having lost touch with all of her friends of the time she felt it her duty to make sure that the hellmouth beneath the school was dormant. The witch walked through the new building thinking how different it was to the original school.  
She entered the office to retrieve her timetable she didn't look at the secretary who handed it to her until she spoke to her.  
"Willow?" She instantly recognised the voice and turned her head to see the youngest of the scoobies. Dawn summers sat at the desk having aged 5 years she had grown into a fine young woman. Her once long hair had now been cut into a shoulder length bob.  
"Oh my god! Dawnie! What are you doing here?" "Well duh! I'm working. I heard school was back in session back here at hellmouth central and got myself a job." Dawn smiled at the witch it had been 5 long years since she had last seen her.  
"Hey Dawn I got to go. But we can have coffee later if you want. You no catch up."  
"Yeah that'd be great the new coffee shop does a great half fat latte meet you there at about 5?" Dawn said. She still had the talent of being able to say any number of words without having to take a breath.  
"Yeah ill see you there. Thanks for the timetable" she smiled at dawn grateful to see one familiar face and willow walked down the white corridor to the first class of the day.  
Her first class was a group of juniors. All a bit to cocky for there own good. She loved the new power she had over people and this power didn't have to be forced by magic or anything else. This power was gained from sitting in a bigger chair than every one else. She loved it and was glad that she had found herself a feeling that was almost as good as when she did magic.  
After her first class was over Willow walked down the corridor to the new staff room. She sat at the desk that she had been provided with. There was a small sign on the front which had engraved on it "Miss W. Rosenberg. Computing." Willow smiled at this she didn't know why but seeing this small sign, her name. She felt like for the first time in ages she was home, back where she was supposed to be. In the newly rebuilt sunnydale high. 


	2. coffee shop conversations

When Willow arrived at the newly built coffee shop she saw Dawn sat at one of the outside tables, her shiny short blonde hair glistening with the early evening sunshine, dawn wasn't alone she was sat opposite a man who Willow thought looked familiar from this distance. – As she got closer willow recognised the familiar guy to be Andrew, the geeky guy who had once tried to kill Buffy but had at the end fought for the hell mouth, now he didn't so much look geeky and young but manly he had definitely grown up in the past five years. . His once short spiked hair was now longer and dark, he was unshaven. He wore a black shirt and jeans and a short leather jacket was slung over the back of his chair – She said hi to them both and sat down with them, the talked about the past for a while about what had happened since they had last seen each other.  
"I can't believe just how grown up you've got!" Willow said to dawn  
"Well it's been five years did you expect me to stay sixteen forever?" she replied smiling the both started giggling  
"No I expected you to grow up but I never expected you to be engaged when I next saw you. And I never in this world even thought you'd end up with Andrew!"  
"Well I love him and he loves me and was great together" Dawn smiled and kissed Andrew who had hardly said a word since they had arrived. He had just sat back watching dawn and smiling at the way she moved.  
"So Dawnie when's the wedding then?" willow inquired.  
"4 weeks tomorrow, whoa that doesn't seem so long now, I still have so much to do!"  
"Don't worry honey, we'll get it all sorted then we can get on with being the happiest couple alive!" Andrew said he smiled at her and kissed her lovingly. "Are the rest of the gang coming?" willow wanted to know whether or not she would see any of her old friend any time soon and this seemed like a brilliant place to see everyone she had met in sunnydale 12 years before.  
"Well Buffy and Xander are and I think that Angel Spike and Wes are coming in from LA."  
"Great when are they flying in id like to see them again?"  
"I don't know, any way Will you have to help me plan this wedding I'm totally lost. And enough about what I've been doing how have you been, Is Kennedy in sunnydale?"  
"Nope me and Kennedy broke up about 3 years ago. I haven't seen her since, last I heard she was in Vegas but I don't know."  
"Why'd you split?"  
"Well we had a huge fight and I walked out and ended up with someone else. Then she found out and it was over"  
"Will I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked" dawn blushed and looked into the foam of her coffee.  
"No Dawnie don't worry about it, it's a long time ago and it was real stupid of me to go out get drunk and fall into bed with someone else."  
"How'd she find out?" Dawn asked now realising that willow didn't mind.  
"She walked in on us, she stormed out and I followed she started screaming about how could I and then I never saw her again."  
"Ok so has anything else happened in you life since sunnydale?"  
"Well I hardly do magic anymore and I'm now a teacher but you already know that and that's pretty much it."  
"Cool so you're good then?"  
"Yeah I'm great never better I'm back in sunnydale, which although its scary and full of demons will always be home I suppose."  
"I know its weird when we blew up the hellmouth I thought id never want to come back even if they did rebuild it, but as soon as I saw that there were properties for sale here I kind of had to come back."  
"Uh huh."  
The three of them sat around the table until well after dark, talking of what had happened in the past, of hoe they had come to be back and most of all about dawn and Andrews wedding. How they had got together and how they had hid it from Buffy for almost a year. It was almost ten when willow got up to leave and walked home to her small flat close to the new high school.  
She got into bed that night thinking of the prospect of all of her friends returning to sunnydale coming home and seeing Xander again. That was the thought she had as she drifted off into slumber land that evening with a smile on her face. 


	3. old and new friends

The next day when willow arrived in school she went straight to the staff room where dawn was sat having her morning coffee and chatting to a tall looking man with a tweed jacket thrown over his shoulder, the man reminded her of Giles on that first day when he had arrived as the sunnydale librarian.  
He looked nervous and out of place, willow approached dawn and greeted her with a smile.  
"Hey will, Id like you to meet Gregory Porter, he's the new librarian. Doesn't he remind you of Wesley?" Dawn asked smiling.  
"Yeah kind of a cross between Wes and Giles." Willow replied  
Gregory was about six feet tall, he had sandy hair like Wesley's but deep green eyes like Giles, he was clean shaven and wore small round glasses pushed high up on his nose.  
"Am I to take that as a good thing then?" Gregory asked in a very upper class British accent.  
"Yeah, that's a good thing." Dawn reassured him with a dazzling smile.  
"Right well I have a library to return to and I get so many visitors!" he said sarcastically, and walked off glancing back once at the two of them.  
"He seems nice." Willow said "Why does this school always opt for the British librarian though?"  
"Don't know maybe they're more meticulous about there filing!" The two of them began to giggle remembering how Giles used to be with his books in both the library and the magic box.  
Willow began to make her morning coffee and they began to discuss the wedding, about the guest list and the engagement party that was in two days time. Dawn told her that Buffy Giles and Xander were flying in that night.  
"I only have one problem, I don't know how to drive and Andrew is working late and I kind of promised id pick them up from the airport."  
"I can go and fetch them what time does their flight get in?"  
"Around 6.30 can you make it, it would be a huge help Will." "Yeah sure where are they staying when they get here?" "Well Buff and Giles are staying with me and Andrew but I think Xander's checking into a motel."  
"Ok cool ill pick em up and drop them off round at your place at around 7.00"  
"Thanks a lot will, see ya then." dawn said picking up her coffee and leaving the small staff room just as the first bell rang out.  
Willow had a free period first thing and decided she was going to use her time to check out the new library.  
  
Willow walked through the big oak doors to the new library, the place didn't have the same musky smell as the old Scooby HQ, but the décor was very similar, stacks of old volumes lined the walls, the patterned hard floor under her feet was almost exactly the same as that of the previous and there were very few computers around, Giles would have loved it.  
As she wondered around the darkened room she didn't notice Gregory walk out of his office and watch her marvel in the new place.  
"You like the place?" he said, it startled willow and made her spin around to face him.  
"Whoa, I didn't see ya there. Y-yes it reminds me of Giles' library." Willow answered looking a little shaken.  
"Ok. I've spoken to you twice Miss Rosenberg and on both occasions you have mentioned this Giles fellow, I feel I know more about him than I do about you."  
"O-oh. Sorry, Giles is the old librarian here when I was in high school I used to spend a lot of time in the library. A-and please call me Willow, I don't like Miss Rosenberg it makes me feel old." She gave him a winning smile which he returned.  
"Alright, Willow, so you used to live here before the whole collapsing in on itself mystery then?" He asked as they both sat at the round mahogany table in the middle of the room.  
"Yeah, it's weird to be back. I never thought id be teaching at sunnydale high. What brings you here from England then?"  
"Well I love the California sun, it agrees with me." He gave her another dazzling roguish smile  
"It agrees with a lot of people, well I'd better be going I have a class to prepare for, it was very nice meeting you Mr Porter."  
"Please call me Greg and I were wondering whether or not, what with you being the head of Computer sciences, that you could maybe, possibly help me with the cataloguing of my new inventory this evening?"  
"I can't this evening I have friends coming over but tomorrow for sure,"  
Willow walked away with a smile he was kind of cute for a stuffy British guy she thought mind you I always had that thing for Giles, maybe it's the bookworm thing  
  
The rest of willows day was fairly uneventful, she went to class and taught various things all day but her mind wasn't on her work; it was on seeing the Scooby gang that evening the original gang. The four of them that had started out at the beginning when Buffy had arrived in Sunnydale. They had fought on the hell mouth together side by side for seven years, they had been through so much together and after the destruction of sunnydale had one by one lost touch.  
The last person that willow had seen had been Xander, her life long best friend whom for many years she had loved and pined for. But she hadn't seen him for a good 2 and a half years now she wondered whether he had changed whether he was married. Whether he had any kids. A new job?  
After school she worked at home for a couple of hours before the half an hour drive to the airport to collect her friends. She pulled up to the airport and anxiety struck.  
What if everything's totally different?  
What if they weren't her friends anymore?  
What if Xander is married with kids and isn't the jokey guy she once knew and loved?  
She thought about turning back going home and letting Buffy Giles and Xander find their own way to dawns they wouldn't mind.  
Willow pull your self together, these people stood by you through thick and thin, you tried to destroy the world and they still loved you, they're gonna be happy to see you even if things are very different, they're still the Scooby gang  
She walked into the terminal and stood at the gate, waiting for the three of then to arrive. About 30 or 40 passengers left the gate before willow spotted the familiar face of Giles the watcher hadn't changed much he was still tall and slightly grey with his small rimmed glasses pushed up on his nose, by him stood Buffy no longer blonde but her natural colour she had shoulder length brown hair. And behind them pulling along a large suitcase was Xander Harris, he had a patch over his eye where he had lost it trying to save a slayer, he hadn't changed much other than the long scar covering his left cheek. None of them noticed willow for a moment.  
It was Xander who saw the red haired woman first. He said nothing just tapped Buffy on the shoulder and pointed towards willow. "Oh my God, Giles look!" 


End file.
